Reducing Waste
There is no such place as ‘away’ We all have to buy things. We all produce waste in doing so. We all have the power to reduce the impact this has on our planet. The expression ‘throw it away’ has become so common place in our society, that it is often forgotten that there is no such place as away. When we have finished with an item, we have the ability to dispose of it into our bins and it is taken away and dealt with, and we do not need to think about it again. However, if we all did start to think about it, we might all start to change where we decide to put it, or if we create it at all. The majority of the ‘waste’ we create can be recycled. We may not be able to recycle it all at the kerbside, but there is usually a lot of valuable resource within products at the end of their life. It is also worth noting, that if a lot of energy went into making a product that is subsequently sent to landfill, a lot more energy will have to go into making the new replacement product, increasing the emissions created. With a little forethought and a little planning, we can reduce the amount of ‘waste’ that we waste, as well as the emissions we cause when buying products. Textiles (clothing and fabric) should never be sent to landfill, so should not be placed in your kerbside collections. Textiles are a very energy intensive product. In other words, they use a lot of energy and emit a lot of carbon during the process of being made. This is from growing or mining for the materials, to dying processes and transporting it around the world for the different stages of production. When they are no longer wanted, they should be sent on for reuse by either being sold or donated. Even when textiles become worn out, they can still be sent for recycling if taken to the right places. You can recycle textiles at any of the ASTCO clothing banks across the district (find your local one here: www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/bins-waste/ recycling-centres/#RecyclingBanks) as well as some charity shops, just remember to clearly mark the bag as rags.
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Food is another product that should be carefully considered. We can reduce the amount of emissions linked to our food by changing our diets. But other ways to reduce emissions is to minimise food waste as much as possible and then sending any food waste created to be composted. For example, due to the 20 million slices of bread thrown away in UK homes every day, 318,000 tonnes of CO2 is unnecessarily generated every year. Not only should we be thinking about this at the end of the life of an item, we should be thinking about it when we buy new items. Are we buying a product we simply do not need? Are we buying an item we know will not last? Could we buy a better quality item that would last longer? Could we buy a product that can be easily recycled over one that is much more difficult to recycle? Could we buy a product that can be reused time and time again, rather than a single use item? If you are looking to reduce your waste, and would like some support, please do get in touch WasteMinimisation@Huntingdonshire.gov.uk or via our social media Facebook – @Huntingdonshire Recycles Twitter – @HDC Recycles Instagram – @Recycle For Huntingdonshire.
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